so i got lucky and managed to be the first in saskatoon to buy some of the new paints from darren. I bought 3 of the most common colors everyone uses, plus another 2, to get a feel for the new versions of the old line.

So to start off, i tried out the new Base type paint, Ceramite White. this is basically a foundation version of white.

Unlike the old foundation line, Base colors don't get chaulky or gunky on the brush as you go along, they stay smooth like the color line. This is nice because you're not wasting paint by having to clean off the excess and continue on as often as before.

I also used the Basecoat Brush from citadel for this little review. The model, is the legs from Forge World Heresy Armor. the legs have not been cleaned or treated what so ever. this is straight out of the packaging. yep, i decided to really test these paints.

As you can see, after just doing a single coat with ceramite white, the coverage was pretty even and consistant; despite being done over resin that wasn't washed, or casting imperfections on the leg plates. there wasn't even an undercoat on the legs before painting them. this is bare resin with a single coat of ceramite white. Ultramarines, you'll love this paint, and will want to keep a pot of this at all times. no more having to basecoat with astronomican grey. just a pot of this and you're done all your symbols.

while i don't have any photos to post, i also tried the new Base Abaddon Black. yep, black's now a foundation-style paint, as it should be. i also had very nice results using this to paint the soft armor on these legs, as well as detailing other models on my workbench that needed black. as a base coat, or as a layer, abaddon black gives a smooth even finish. The other thing i noticed once the paint dried, was that the new paints dry to a nice matte finish; they don't have a shine to them anymore.

The 3rd common color i bought, was Base LeadBelcher, the new Boltgun Metal. this actually looks different from boltgun metal, but in a good way. when painted on beside boltgun metal, Leadbelcher actually 'looks' like metal, instead of just paint that had sparkles added to it. It also covered the model 'very' nicely; i used less than is usual for a metallic, and it gave better coverage.

4th was the new badab black, Nuln Oil. the Shades are actually better than the pre-existing wash line. they actually go on nicer, and pool into the cracks and edges better than before. I'll be changing all my washes over to the new shade line as soon as the pots i have are used up. (of give the wife-person my existing pots for her chaos army. *shrugs*)

finally, i wanted to try the new drybrush paints, and picked up Necron Compound. Looking in the pot, it looks alot like half-dried mythril silver. smells funny too. (the base and shade lines had no noticeable smell btw) and when i dabbed by drybrush into it, it was like...poking a bowl of jello. but the results the dry paint gives are fantastic. i'm wiping off alot less paint to do the same kind of drybrushing as before. and for those who don't want to pickup the new painting book (i did, cause i wanted something for the wife to study that has the new paint line in it so its easier for her), the book warns to keep your drybrush paints exactly that; dry. do NOT wet them or dilute them with water, or it totally messes them up.

I hope to pick up some Texture Astrogranite, and Drybrush Longbeard Grey, to do a trial test for my bases this weekend, so when that's done, i'll post a followup reply over how they turned out.

no primer, it was bare resin. in person the paint doesn't look as chunky; my camera has a bad habit of exaggerating roughness if im too close to what i'm taking pictures of. i could take a shot of a baby-butt smooth spray coating, and it would look like that at the range i took the pics.

but a couple spots on those legs 'look' rough in person because the legs were miscasted; there's these annoying 'ridges' along the legs, but because of all those studs, i cant sand them smooth. oh well; they were from ebay and were $17 cheaper than buying off of forge world, so i can live with a little miscasting.

darren should have them on display right away; they would have been tuesday morning, but some numbnuts was wandering the city with the new display rack in the back of his delivery truck, so he couldn't place them out yet. he gave me first dibs cause i had asked him in an email about when they were gonna be in, so when he saw me walk in for the new painting book, he told me i could get first pick if i didn't make a mess of the shipping boxes.

oh, and some of you guys might enjoy this; some, not all, but some, of the bottles had little nubs on the back that keep the lids propped open. the ones that came with that nub also happen to be sealed, like how pop bottles have their lids sealed; the new black and nuln oil had these style of lids, but the ceramite white, leadbelcher, and necron compound did not. not sure on the reason, but they did it.

System Commander wrote:Oh.. you can the new base paints right to bare plastic or resin?Even the old foundation paints couldnt do that..

yea, it's pretty awesome. so long as im not using old bitz or stripped minis, i might not bother with a undercoat anymore. though lately i've been using army painter uniform grey because it makes for a great neutral color that makes all the plastic the same shade. this is great for when you mix resin bits with metal and plastic bitz, cause then you cant tell its not all plastic when it comes time to paint.

Roland wrote:I'd like to see how that Ceramite White covers (as in White over Blue or green), same w/ the Leadbelcher.

the example with the biker bolters were originally spraypainted with army painter dragon red, since my biker army was originally going to be white panthers. so that's leadbelcher over a basecoat of dragon red, beau. it was done with a single light coat of it, too. so it paints nicely over trouble-colors like red.

when i'm done work today, i'll take some spare bits in my trays and paint some black and some green, and some blue, and then try a single coat of ceramite white over them and post the results for you guys. i know i have some crimson fist bits there were painted, so i can do some white tests on those too. I don't mind being a guinea pig for the colors i already bought. i'll also be buying all the suggested colors to paint dark angels, and the texture and drybrush paints for doing ruins and jungle terrain this saturday, so i'll also do pics of all of those colors too once i get them.

the 2 models for paint sampling; ignore the crappyness of my early painting attempts in the hobby:

now this is a single coating from the white, and the leadbelcher:

the colors i painted over were a dark metallic Reaper paint, called Emerald Green, the boots and helmet were Adamantium black; a metallic from the same company. the cape was chaos black, and the sword and fists pad were reaper's sapphire blue. the red feathers were blood red, the gold was shining gold, and the red on the fists' pad was reaper's metallic red.

I know a lot of people are filling their drawers over the glazes/washes/drybrushes etc, but the fact that they have a full basic set of colors in bases is the key(White/Metallics esp.). Please note what they"ve done.

You want to put 6 layers down for each color? Done.

You want to hit it with a basecoat of each and then soak the mother in Skill in a Can? Done.

They are now marketing to all skill levels.

The only way this could be better is if they made all the Bases so they could act as a primer (and I'm not so sure they aren't).

At this point, I think I'll pick up a few colors and see how they fit my style and then compare them to AP's Warpaints when they show up (if Darren won't stock them its a moot point)

No matter what the coverage is like over a bare mini I would still reccomend using a primer. Paint doesn't have the same characteristics of a primer and if you handle your mini's your paint jobs are gonna flake off pretty easily. Even sealing does nothing if there is not a decent primer as a firm foundation for the paint to stick to.

this new line has a brush-on primer again too. looks like chaos black when painted on. there's a picture of it being used in the new painting book, but the times you'd use it, you could just as easily make yourself a cheap spray box to use indoors on poor weather occasions instead of this stuff.

but i suppose if you noticed you missed a spot spraying the mini black, this stuff could touch up the spots you missed instead of spraying some more.

I use brush on primer quite a bit for bases. With plaster, sand, and all sorts of super absorbent stuff the brush on primer does a better job of priming the surface to a nice even finish so I am not putting a ton of layers onto the base with the actual paint. I also use a brush primer for smaller pieces of a mini I leave off while painting. Fiddly arms or weapons that kind of thing. I would never turn my back on good 'ole spray primer though!

i started with Astrogranite, which is a medium-looking grey. if you try to put it on smooth like any other paint, you just see the odd grain of sand in the paint. really glob it and dab it on to get it to look like the pictures.

once that dried, i gave it a liberal coat of Nuln Oil. this darkened it up and shaded it nicely.

finally, i drybrushed all the ridges with Longbeard Grey to get the look you see in the pics.

the rim was painted with Adeptus Battlegrey from the old foundation line.

One big difference I have noticed with the new paint line that no one has seemed to mentioned yet is that Citadel paints are no longer manufactured in France, they moved the process back into the UK now.

I have also noticed when using the Ceramite White that while it is awesome just how fast it dries (insanely so), it also means you need to clean your brushes far more frequently per model.

if you keep your brush a little damp while painting, you avoid that problem. you shouldn't just go straight from the pot to the mini; every so often you should be dipping about a 1/3rd of the brush into clean water, and mixing some more paint onto the bristles to keep it smooth and consistent.